Greater Hoopoe-Lark - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Seyed Babak Mus
Shahre-Babak, Iran, March 2005

Alaemon alaudipes

Identification

19–23 cm

Distribution

Africa, Middle East and Asia:
Northern Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt Western Africa: Mauritania, Senegambia, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Chad
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia
African Islands: Cape Verde
Middle East : Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran
Asia: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India

Taxonomy

Photo by AJDH
Dammam, Saudi Arabia, July 2007

Subspecies

There are 4 subspecies^[1]:

• A. a. boavistae:

• Cape Verde Islands

• A. a. alaudipes:

• Deserts of North Africa (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia)

• A. a. desertorum:

• Coastal Sudan (Port Sudan) to north-western Somalia and Aden

• A. a. doriae:

• Eastern Arabia to Iraq, Iran and north-western India

Habitat

Open rocky and sandy habitats, desert and semi-desert; near fresh and brackish water. Salt flats.

Behaviour

Photo by Jugal Tiwari
Great Rann of Kutch, India, November 2008

Diet

Their main diet consists of invertebrates and seeds. Some green plants are also eaten.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved August 2014)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2023) Greater Hoopoe-Lark. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 30 November 2023 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Greater_Hoopoe-Lark

External Links

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